Fateh Leader: Intifada's Aim is to End Israeli Occupation

Published October 21st, 2000 - 02:00 GMT

Secretary of the Fateh movement in the West Bank, Marwan Barghouthi, said that the key aim of the Intifada against Israel is to end its occupaion of t

The key aim of the Intifada or uprising against Israel is to end its occupation of the Palestinian territories, a key member of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fateh faction, Marwan Barghouti said Saturday.

"The main purpose of this Intifada is to implement international resolutions and to end the occupation," Barghouti, the Fateh leader in the West Bank, told reporters in Ramallah.

Barghouti said the uprising would go on despite threats by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to withdraw from the seven-year peace process with the Palestinians if the violence continued beyond this weekend's Arab summit in Cairo.

He called on Barak to grasp a "unique opportunity" to end the occupation of Palestinian territories, adding that the Intifada would continue in parallel with any future peace negotiations.

He said he did not have the power to stop the three-week-old uprising, which has killed 124 people, most of them Palestinians, even if he wanted to.

"Even if I call, they will not listen. People are listening to me because I am with the Intifada and with them."

"No more, no more, will we only negotiate," he added. "We can negotiate and continue the Intifada at the same time," adding that it would be a peaceful Intifada, "with demonstrations, and marches and sit-ins." -- RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP)